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Guild Polara Kim Thayil Signature Electric Guitar - Vintage White

Solidbody Electric Guitar with Mahogany Body, Mahogany Neck, Rosewood Fingerboard, and 2 Humbucking Pickups - Vintage White
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Item ID: KTPolVW
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Guild Polara Kim Thayil Signature Electric Guitar - Vintage White
Price:$899 and 99 cents
Special Financing - Ends Aug 2, 2026. $25/month with 36 month financing*

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Guild Polara Kim Thayil Signature Electric Guitar - Vintage White
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Price:$899 and 99 cents
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Frequently Asked Questions

Guild Polara Kim Thayil Signature Electric Guitar - Vintage White

Q: Who is the Polara Kim Thayil Signature guitar designed for?

Q: What kind of tones can I get from the Guild HB-1 humbuckers?

Q: What is the benefit of the bridge phase mini-switch?

Q: How does the neck feel for playing?

Q: Is a case included with the Polara Kim Thayil Signature guitar?

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A High-performance Riff Machine

During his tenure with Soundgarden, Kim Thayil's heavy, thunderous riffing exemplified what would eventually become known as the "Seattle Sound." The Guild Polara Kim Thayil Signature is a high-octane grunge machine, able to tackle sludgy power chords and scorching leads with equal aplomb. This solidbody electric guitar's slightly offset mahogany body strikes an imposing profile, which is matched sonically by its Guild HB-1 humbucking pickups. Its Vintage Soft "U"-shaped neck offers extreme comfort, whether you're engaging in erratic riffage or unleashing pent-up pentatonics; its 22-fret, 12.5-inch-radius rosewood fingerboard facilitates the entire gamut of fleet-fingered fretboard workouts. The Kim Thayil Signature's Tune-o-matic bridge and Guild compensated stopbar tailpiece were tailor-made for palm muting, and its 18:1-ratio tuners ensure that your tuning remains rock solid in every musical situation. The Guild Polara Kim Thayil Signature boasts a King Animal truss rod cover and a Badmotorfinger back plate with a gold print signature.

Based on a classic 1970s Guild solidbody

Kim Thayil has wielded a Guild S-100 Polara throughout the majority of his career, and the Polara Kim Thayil Signature puts his unique spin on this '70s-era classic. This Polara is built around a solid mahogany body with a sleek offset design. Sweetwater guitarists find that the Kim Thayil Signature's mahogany Vintage Soft "U" neck profile provides a slightly chunky yet eminently comfortable grip that brings to mind the Guilds of yesteryear. Lastly, it's topped with a rosewood fingerboard with a slick-playing 12.5-inch radius for maximum playing comfort.

Versatile humbucking pickups

The Guild Polara Kim Thayil Signature is primed for ultramega tone thanks to its Guild HB-1 humbucking pickups. When you plug this solidbody electric guitar into your favorite amplifier, you'll be rewarded with a wide range of classic tones. In the '70s, as music was evolving into harder and heavier sounds, Guild released these higher-output pickups to ensure players could get the most out of their axes. HB-1 humbuckers are quite capable of everything from articulate cleans to down-tuned riffing. To top it off, the Polara Kim Thayil Signature includes a phase switch, unlocking a myriad of otherworldly sonic textures.

Teeming with custom appointments

This Guild is loaded with elegant appointments from head to toe. Handsome ivory binding wraps around its fingerboard, giving the Polara Kim Thayil Signature a decidedly upscale edge. Its fingerboard is studded with beautiful pearloid block inlays, and its headstock is adorned with a pearloid Guild logo. Finally, the Kim Thayil Signature includes a custom King Animal truss rod cover and a Badmotorfinger back plate with a gold print signature. One thing's for sure: you'll never be outshined with the Polara Kim Thayil Signature in your hands.

Guild Polara Kim Thayil Signature Electric Guitar Features:

  • Signature solidbody electric guitar of Soundgarden's Kim Thayil
  • Dual HB-1 full-range humbuckers serve up high-octane vintage tone without the vintage noise
  • Phase switch unlocks a myriad of otherworldly sonic textures
  • Sleek double-cutaway design gives you unhindered access to the entire fretboard
  • Comfortable mahogany neck with an easy-playing, 22-fret rosewood fingerboard
  • Tune-o-matic bridge with a compensated stopbar tailpiece
  • 18:1-ratio tuners ensure rock-solid tuning in every musical situation
  • Pearloid block fingerboard inlays, handsome binding, and an eye-grabbing gloss finish
  • King Animal truss rod cover and a Badmotorfinger back plate with a gold print signature
  • Gleaming gold hardware

Why Buy Your Guitar from Sweetwater?

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Tech Specs

  • General
  • Number of Strings 6
  • Left-/Right-handed Right-handed
  • Body
  • Body Type Solidbody
  • Body Shape Polara Kim Thayil Signature
  • Body Material Mahogany
  • Body Finish Polyurethane
  • Color Vintage White
  • Neck
  • Neck Material Mahogany
  • Neck Shape Vintage Soft U
  • Neck Joint Set Neck
  • Radius 12.5"
  • Fingerboard Material Indian Rosewood
  • Fingerboard Inlay Pearloid Blocks
  • Number of Frets 22, Narrow Jumbo, Nickel
  • Scale Length 24.75"
  • Nut Width 1.6875"
  • Nut Material Composite
  • Hardware
  • Bridge/Tailpiece Guild Tune-O-Matic, Compensated Stoptail
  • Tuners Grover Rotomatics
  • Electronics
  • Neck Pickup Guild HB-1 Dual-coil Humbucker
  • Bridge Pickup Guild HB-1 Dual-coil Humbucker
  • Controls 2 x volume, 2 x tone
  • Switching 3-way toggle pickup switch, 1 x mini-switch (bridge phase)
  • Miscellaneous
  • Strings D'Addario EXL110 .010-.046
  • Case/Gig Bag Sold Separately
  • Manufacturer Part Number: 99-743-0090

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Reviews

It has all the Soundgarden sounds and feel!
I had been waiting to see if Guild would release the Vintage White version without paying for the custom shop model and they finally did it. Received mine a few weeks back and it's perfect! The Vintage White looks amazing with the gold hardware. Very minor differences between the high dollar version which has the neck pickup and tailpiece pulled back a little farther on the body. Fret work is perfect, plays like a dream right out of the box although I did adjust the action to my preferences. Pickups sound great and through my Friedman BE-50 Deluxe I can nail all Kim's famous tones used throughout the Soundgarden catalog. Very fun to play Slaves and Bulldozers on and can even do the "blowing on the bridge pickup trick" that Kim does at the beginning of Hands All Over and other songs. Great guitar and well worth the wait, highly recommend!
Music background: Professional Musician
Feels and looks perfect
So far playing it, it sounds awesome there's so much tone control and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. It's also insanely comfortable to hold and play overall an amazing guitar!
Great guitar
Plays great out of the box one of my favorite guitars
Guild Polara Kim Thayil Signature Electric Guitar - Vintage White
This is a great guitar, has buckets loads of mojo and quite comfortable to play. Unfortunately my one which was ordered online and delivered to my house had a few issues. I noticed scratches on the pick up covers and pickguard, there were small chips in the fretboard where the nut sits, the out of phase switch was pitted and corroded and still had tooling marks on the fret crowns. Having said all this it does not effect the playability and I still think this is a really cool guitar.
It is a 900 dollar guitar
This should be a cheaper guitar and there are some things you need to know before buying this. You will need to clean up the nut slots. The strings pop while tuning due to the nut not being cut correctly. Both of the tone pots were extremely loose. It appears that they installed the pots while the shielding paint was still wet and the phase switch is garbage and makes far too much noise for a brand new guitar. The fret ends on the bottom side of the neck stick out a bit more than I would like. When trying to clean up some distortion by turning down the volume, you get flooded with muddiness.

Watch some youtube review videos and you will see that I am not the only one experiencing some of these issues.

Another issue that needs to be noted is that the cases that Sweetwater deems to be a "certified fit" are absolutely NOT a good fit. I purchased my guitar with a case and it came broken. Even the rep mentioned that they don't exactly fit snug in the case to which I can attest. Guild sells cases for these and I would recommend getting one of them instead of the gator cases offered.

Here are some positives about the guitar. It looks awesome and sounds even better. Disregarding the noise coming from the phase switch, all pickup settings sound great. Despite my first guitar being destroyed before receipt, the replacement guitar was packed extremely well from the factory and repacked by Sweetwater as well

All in all, I am not sure if I want to keep this guitar. Playing it is fun right now but the minor annoyances will be the death of a thousand cuts at some point and they will need to be addressed.

Alternatively, my purchase inspired a friend to buy the Tungsten Night Polara and absolutely loves it, for what that is worth.

When customers come to Sweetwater looking for great, affordable acoustic guitars, we're always quick to tell them about Guild. At the same time, Guild has brought us some real beauties over the years, ranging from top-end acoustic guitars to timeless jazz boxes, and we're happy to say our most seasoned players agree that these instruments are second to none. As one of the prime Guild dealers, we know that when we sell one of these instruments, whoever gets it is going to love it and play it a lot, especially after we put it through our 55-point Evaluation to ensure it leaves our climate-controlled warehouse in perfect condition. Whether you're looking for your first acoustic guitar or your next archtop, ask your Sales Engineer about Guild.